J/111 Wins Round Island Race

Thanks to Gary Leduc for this report: "The race started at 8:00 am in 11-13 knots true from the east. We had a short port tack favored beat out to a drop mark, then a jib reach down Muskegett Channel to the sea buoy. The second leg was pretty much dead downwind, but the starboard jibe was a little favored. The breeze stayed easterly until the very end of the 16-mile run, when the wind clocked a little SE and freshened. That made for a nice broad reach from Squibnocket to Devil’s Bridge. On the approach to Devil’s Bridge, the breeze slammed back to the east and started to freshen slightly to 14-16 knots. The tide was slack at Devil’s Bridge, but due to start flooding soon. The key is to get up inside middle ground in Vineyard Sound for the flood and ride a 2 knot boost all the way past Vineyard Haven. That did happen for us, and as we came out of middle ground at West Chop, we were doing over 10 knots SOG right into the 14-16 knot Easterly. Those conditions made for very, very close, steep chop. One issue we did have was the Ferry coming out of Vineyard Haven. We could not cross her bow. So, we had to tack onto port. We wanted to continue on starboard, but the ferry altered that plan slightly. Once clear, we tacked back onto port to a layline for the finish line. We were a bottom-rated boat in PHRF Class A, while the highest rating boat was Aurora, a 65 footer. Also in our class were Chessie Racing and Irie and Crazy Horse, all big fast boats over 55 feet. Our corrected time was 6:38:11, winning by a margin of 19min 20sec! Since 2013, the J/111 WICKED 2.0’s race record in the Around The Vineyard Race looks like three firsts and one second."